where are thank you, mr. speaker, i rise today to applaud youtube tv and hollywood you live steve expanding access to congress by carrying c-span, c-span 2, c-span3 beginning next week. for 46 years its nonprofit service has offered unfiltered gavel to gavel coverage. streaming households were left without this vital window into the debates and decisions. by adding the c-span networks, they are making a strong and enduring commitment to public service, transparency and s engagement and join cable like cable, cox and strengthens and confidence. this is a big win for the

american people. will inform the public no matter how they choose to. i thank youtube tv and hulu tv for their important decision. and i yield back. >> democracy. it isn't just an idea, it's a process, a process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding principles it's where debates unfold and nation's course is chartered. democracy in real-time. this is your government at work. this is c-span, giving you your democracy unfiltered. >> coming up, house democratic leader holds a news conference on the party's legislative agenda. from capitol hill, this is 25 minutes.

mr. jeffries: house republicans went on an eight-week taxpayer funded vacation while shutting the government down and hurting the american people. during that taxpayer funded vacation, house republicans didn't do a single thing to make life better for the american people. we have been back now in session, legislatively for two weeks, and yet they still have not produced a bill to drive down the high cost of living, to address the republican health care crisis or make life better for every day americans. it's clear to us that house republicans have no intention to do anything other than to continue to drive down right wing extremism through the throats of the american people.

house republicans promised along with donald trump, that they were going to lower costs on day one. costs aren't going down in the united states of america, costs are going up. housing costs through the roof. like that bills through the roof. grocery costs, through the roof. and now as a result of the republican refusal to extend the affordable care act tax credits, tens of millions of people on the verge of experiencing dramatically increased health care costs that will either push them into medical bankruptcy or prevent them from being able to see a doctor when they need one. and we see nothing from the republican party to address the health care crisis that they've created, because they are too busy fighting each other and

spending time trying to find different ways to reward their billionaire donors. the american people deserve better, you deserve people. and we will continue to fight to fix our prone health care system and clean up corruption so we can deliver a country that works for working class americans. questions. [indiscernible] >> not that congress can't legislate it's house republicans that can't legislate. it's the gang that can't legislate straight. they continue to take the

highway or my way approach. what was the rational to bring a bill related to college sports to the floor this week at the same time that republicans refuse to extend the affordable care act tax credits? shouldn't we put the health care of the american people first, particularly when the votes clearly don't even exist to bring the so-called score act to the floor? the question that people are asking this week related to a score act legislation is who exactly directed mike johnson and steve scalise to bring this bill to the floor this week? was it the big donors connected to l.s.u.? that legislation would not have benefited college athletes, it

would hurt college athletes, take away the ant thy trust exemption and preempt the ability of states to actually pass legislation that promotes the health, safety and well-being of their own college students. it would take away legal rights to seek redress. the organized labor unions across the country were strongly opposed because it undermined the ability of college athletes and undermined their freedom to negotiate and took away collective bargaining rights. and of course the players' associations across every sports league led by the nfl players' association were opposed to it because they concluded when

evaluate inthe bill on the merits that it would actually hurt college athletes, not help them. why would mike johnson and steve scalise think to bring the lane protection act to the floor of the house of representatives, legislation that would do knowing to benefit college athletes and everything to benefit coaches like lane kiffen, who got out of town, abandoned his players in the middle of a playoff run to get a $100 million at l.s.u. why did you decide to bring this bill this week with all the other issues that the country is demanding that we focus on led by the affordability crisis that they claim is a scam and hoax

that the american people know is very real. [indiscernible] mr. jeffries: path forward that has the greatest number of votes in both the house and the senate is a three-year extension of the affordable care act tax credits. time has run out. republicans have been promising all year that they were going to get to address the health care crisis that they themselves have created. but clearly they have no intention to do anything about keeping health care affordable beginning with extending the aft tax credits. this is december. the tax credits expire at the end of this month.

what is taking so long? we started to raise this issue with great urgency in the spring while republicans were trying to jam the big ugly bill down the throats of the american people. they found the time to enact the largest cut to medicaid, cut 186 billion from nap, the largest cut to nutritional assistance and republican extremists enacted massive tax breaks for billionaire donors and skyrocketed the debt by more than $3 trillion and made those massive tax breaks permanent. and now there's no viable path forward that republicans in the house or the senate have put forth to address the fact that the affordable care act tax credits are expiring? i mean, the time has long past to do anything other than move

forward with the legislation that will be triggered by the discharge petition that house democrats has filed that has every single democrat on it, 214. we only need four house republicans out of 219, we only need four to join us. and we can get this legislation onto the floor and out of the house. and i'm thankful for the leadership that chuck schumer and senate democrats are showing and triggering an up or down vote on a three-year extension in the senate and the american people will see which party supports the health care of hard working american taxpayers, which would be democrats and which party is continuing to break our health care health care system, that would be the

g.o.p. [indiscernible] mr. jeffries: it's involved and not necessarily in a constructive direction. [indiscernible] mr. jeffries: my understanding that the common ground framework has the support perhaps of a handful of members of the house of representatives, less than 10, as far as i can tell. now we're open to having good-faith discussion with any house republican who is serious about extending the affordable care act tax credits. but the house republican leadership is not. they have repeatedly said they

have no interest in addressing the affordable care act tax credit issue. donald trump and the administration were prepared to put forth a proposal that mike johnson and others detonated because they have no interest in keeping health care affordable. the legislation that has the greatest amount of support in the congress right now, both house and senate, is a clean three-year extension of the affordable care act tax credits. we believe that the american people deserve a certain level of certainty that republicans provided to their billionaire donors when they made those tax credits permanent in the one big ugly bill. [indiscernible]

mr. jeffries: well, the tone that has consistently been adopted by donald trump toward members of the free and fair press generally and specifically, most recently directed at female reporters is disgusting. unbecoming of a president. it is unconscionable, unacceptable and unamerican and why his approval rating is at 36%. the american people know that donald trump and republican control of the house and the senate has been a disaster for them. and instead of focusing on the issues that matter like driving down the high cost of living or fixing our broken health care system, continuing to engage in personal attacks against folks, assaults on the character of individuals who are just doing their jobs. now, in our democracy, it's clear.

we have a legislative branch, the house and the senate, separate and co-equal supposed to provide oversight on an out of control executive branch. james madison, one of the original framers of the constitution said that congress should be a rival to the executive branch. but that's not what republicans have done. these people are not rivals but reckless rubber stamp to donald trump's. article 2 executive branch and article 3 judiciary. but connected to the fabric to our democracy is the fair and free press. and donald trump, of course, is behaving more like a wanna be king who is not interested in the scrutiny that comes from being part of american democracy. part of that scrutiny is the congress part of that scrutiny?

is the judiciary? of course. it should always be the free and fair press. [indiscernible] mr. jeffries: house republicans have no issue. they believe the affordability

crisis is a hoax and a scam. that's what their leader has said who says he is both the president and the speaker. donald trump's words, not mine. they don't plan to address the high cost of link in this country because they don't believe it exists. now the interesting thing is that i agree that the american people will continue to feel the impact of the one big ugly bill that republicans jammed down their throats but it's going to be an adverse impact because hospitals and nursing homes are going to continue to close as a result of republicans enacting the largest cuts in medicaid. like that bills are skyrocketing because of the republican attack on the clean energy economy, clean energy is comeeper energy. but they gutted those provisions

of the tax code, republicans did, so they could reward big oil and their donors and the american people are seeing their like that bills skyrocket. and if you rip 186 billion from snap which republicans did, they are going to cause every day americans to go hungry. 42 million people. 16 million children who are going to be hurt by what republicans did in their one big ugly bill. over a million veterans who rely on snap. and so the adverse impact, the harm that republicans have done to the american people actually, we're just scratching the surface in terms of the hurt that every day americans will experience. and then we have the ongoing trump tariffs, which, of course

in real-time are increasing costs on the american people and they know it in terms of what they are paying now for groceries and for goods. the american people are concerned about the fact that housing is totally out of control. health care is totally out of control. child care is totally out of control and republicans have no plan to deal with any of it. donald trump is fighting with marjorie taylor greene and she is fighting with the republican conference. cory mills is fighting with nancy mace. nancy mace is fighting with mike johnson. the whole thing is a mess. the 119th congress has turned into a bad episode of republicans gone wild. and here's the problem.

republicans are so busy fighting each other, they can't be bothered to fight for the american people. big difference between us and them. house democrats cats are going to continue to fight for you to drive down the cost of living and fix our broken health care system. [snecial -- indiscernible] mr. jeffries: i have not had a conversation. i did note with great interest he decided to jump in the race. he has a well respected. i have no plans to get involved in the 7th congressional race at this time or perhaps at any

time. [indiscernible] mr. jeffries: well, we have to have that discussion in terms of what house democrats might do to the extent there is such a vote. but clearly, nothing that the speaker of the house has done over the last several months has endeared himself to democrats in the congress. [indiscernible]

mr. jeffries: well, we haven't had a caucus-wide conversation about the best path forward, but there is overwhelming support for the legislation to ban congressional stock trading. it is long past time that it's done. part of the challenge is that mike johnson apparently said he has zero interest in moving the legislation that is actually bipartisan led by chip roy and representative magaziner. mike johnson has zero interest. we will evaluate the different vehicles moving forward and i look forward to having a conversation with the stakeholders in the early days and next week and seth, and alex and joe, the top democrat on the house administration committee to figure out the best path forward. we want to clean up corruption in this institution, in the

supreme court and also as it relates to the administration. i think one of the challenges is that members have raised directly with me about the representative luna approach, apparently she is unwilling to prohibit stock trading within the trump administration, unwilling to prohibit stock trading with respect to president trump and vice president vance. that is extraordinary me because they have executive power. we have to deal with issues of members of congress trading stock. it should be banned. but there has to be a path forward to banning stock trading within the administration. donald trump just purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock in warner brothers, when his administration is in

the middle of a merger review. how is that acceptable? that is corruption in plain sight. and it seems reasonable to many of us that we've got to find a path forward toward addressing it. [indiscernible] mr. jeffries: well, many voters were promised that costs would go down on day one.

january 20 came and went and republicans didn't do a damn thing to lower costs. donald trump didn't do it. they don't give a damn. that is increasingly clear. now the american people have come to that conclusion with a greater degree, because they were lied to by donald trump and republicans. we are giving our republican colleagues a chance to keep your word to the american people. start by extending the affordable care act tax credits. this fight is not over. and to kevin's question as well, this fight's not over as it relates to the affordable care act tax credits. let's see what happens on the senate floor next week. senate democrats are bringing a bill to extend it for three years and we are going to continue our case in the house. every single democrat on the

same page, republicans in the middle of a civil war. a handful of them can't focus on keeping their word to the american people and driving down the high cost of living. still have a couple of weeks for them to change their tune. ♪ ♪ -- [indiscernible] mr. jeffries: bobby scott and others did a good job of change our concerns. we want to educate our children. focus on reading, writing and math. developing a holistic child, giving the ability to them to think critically. and we aren't going to be

lectured by a group of republicans who are dismantling the department of education in real-time, literally 90% of the department of education that existed last year is now gone. doesn't exist within the department of education. it has been broken into pieces. republicans are attacking public education. just like they are attacking public health. and attacking public safety. and it's the reason why republicans are underperforming across the country electric toarlly or was crushed across the case up and down the ballot in the off-year elections in early november. the american people are through with these extremists, done. they have had enough. they have broken all of their promises. spent the entire year rewarding

billion donors and eliminate the whole thing is toxic. but they have been focused on doing things that they know will harm the american people. and democrats are just going to continue to fight for a country where when you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to live an affordable life, comfortable life, good life, good job, good housing, good health care, gr education for your children and good retirement. not too much to ask for in the united states of america, the wealthiest country in the history of the world. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025],. captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org. >> friday ceasefire at a time when common ground dasha burns sits down with republic khanna

and don bacon on the top issues of the country and rising tensions. watch ceasefire, friday at 7:00 p.m. acknowledge 10:00 p.m. >> watch america's book club, c-span's bold original series this sunday with best selling author who has written 29 books about a wide range of controversial and moral issues. her books include the story teller, 19 minutes and the latest, by any other name. she joins our host. >> people say you have changed their views on certain social issues. >> that's why i write, it's to start the discussion and can't always have a discussion and people aren't ready to hear it

but there are a lot of minds that you can change one mind at a time. >> watch america's book club this sunday at 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific, only on c-span. >> middle and high school students join c-span as we celebrate america's 250th anniversary during our documentary competition. exploring the american story through the declaration of independences. we are asking students to create a documentary that answers one of two questions, what's the declaration's influence on a key moment from america's 250-year history or how its values touched on a contemporary issue that impacts you or your

community. consider interviewing experts and explore a variety of view points. students should include clips of related c-span footage which are available to download. the competition awards $100,000 to students and teachers and $5,000 for the grand prize winner. entries must be received before january 20, 2026. visit our website at student cam. org. >> c-span, we are funded by these television companies and more including cox. >> cox is there to help,